Wake Forest Completes Weekend Sweep over Dayton

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Powered by two home runs and four RBIs from sophomore Jack Winnay, the Wake Forest baseball team closed out the weekend sweep over Dayton with a 9-6 victory Sunday at David D. Couch Ballpark.

The Demon Deacons (6-1) moved to a perfect 6-0 at home this season and are now 35-3 at The Couch over the last two seasons. The Flyers (3-4) fell to below .500 for the first time this season and allowed at least nine runs in all three games in the series having come into the weekend not allowing more than six in a game.

On the mound, junior Michael Massey improved to 2-0 on the year, as he allowed just one run on two hits and no walks. With nine strikeouts Sunday, the Suwannee, Ga. native has now fanned 13 batters in seven innings of work this season for a K/9 of 16.7 over the opening two weekends.

Freshman Josh Gunther made his second appearance out of the bullpen this season and retired all five batters faced with two strikeouts. Graduate transfer David Falco came in and closed out the contest, as he needed just nine pitches to earn the final two outs. As a team, the Deacs struck out 14 Flyers to just two walks.

Winnay finished the weekend 5-for-11 with three home runs, seven RBIs and a double. It marked the first multi-HR game of his career as well as a career-high in RBIs. Fellow sophomore Austin Hawke notched a career-high three hits in addition to two runs batted in and two runs scored. In total the seven-and-eight hole hitters combined for five hits and six RBIs.

Junior Seaver King went deep for the second-consecutive game and the third time this season with a two-run shot in the fourth inning. He is now tied with Winnay and graduate transfer Adam Tellier for the team lead.

All 10 Wake Forest players that made a plate appearance reached base as the team collected 12 hits, including six for extra bases, and eight walks.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Starter Michael Massey got his day started with a pair of strikeouts in the top of the first, including breaking off a nasty slider for a swing and miss to close the frame.
Massey ramped up to 93 mph on his fastball for his third strikeout to end the second.
Wake Forest broke through for five runs in the second.
- Senior Jake Reinisch started the bottom of the second with a single into right field.
- Graduate transfer Tate Ballestero continued his stellar start to the season with a double down the left-field line to put two in scoring position with no outs.
- Leading the team in RBIs, sophomore Austin Hawke added his 10th and 11th of the season with a double to left center to plate Reinisch and Ballestero.
- Already with one homer on the weekend, sophomore Jack Winnay sent his second shot of the weekend 420 feet over the left centerfield wall to push the Deacs out to a 4-0 lead.
- After the third double of the inning from shortstop Marek Houston, the sophomore took advantage of a pair of wild pitches to extend the Wake edge to five.
It took just 10 pitches for Massey to get through the third inning, collecting strikeouts five and six along the way.
Dayton got on the board with a solo homer that snuck just over the left field wall in the top of the fourth.
The Deacs added two more on Seaver King's second home run in two games and third of the season with a no doubt shot to left center.
Ballestero added his second hit of the afternoon with a sharp shot to open the bottom half of the fifth.
Freshman Josh Gunther sat down the five batters he faced on just 16 pitches with a pair of strikeouts before giving way to fellow freshman Cam Nelson, who picked up Wake's 12th strikeout of the game to go to the bottom of the sixth up 7-1.
Winnay added his second home run of the day and third homer in two games with a blast to the deepest part of the park, hitting off the batter's eye in center to extend the Wake lead to 9-1 in the seventh.
The Flyers got two back with their second home run of the game in the top of the eighth followed by two homers for three runs in the ninth, but David Falco Jr. closed the game out and retired the only two batters he faced as the Deacs won, 9-6.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Second baseman Austin Hawke and left fielder Jack Winnay provided a spark offensively for the Demon Deacons batting in the seven and eight hole, respectively.
- Hawke notched a career-high three hits Sunday afternoon. He collected two RBIs and crossed the plate twice.
- Winnay also had a career day at the plate, as he launched a pair of two-run home runs for his first-career multi homer game and is now tied for the team lead with Seaver King and Adam Tellier with three this season. His four runs batted in also mark a career-best.

STAGGERING STATISTICS

Wake Forest's weekend starters have been lights out on the mound through the opening two weeks of the season, as they have combined for a 6-0 record, 41 strikeouts to just 9 walks (4.56 K/BB ratio) and just six earned runs allowed through 30.0 innings pitched. (1.80 ERA)
- Weekend Starter W/L IP ERA Ks BBs Hits WHIP
- Josh Hartle 2-0 11.2 1.54 10 2 8 0.89
- Chase Burns 2-0 11.1 2.38 18 5 7 1.08
- Michael Massey 2-0 7.0 1.29 13 2 2 0.57
- Totals 6-0 30.0 1.80 41 9 17 0.93

FROM COACH WALTER
"Really pleased with Michael Massey today. He looked more like his old self, for sure. Pitch count ran up there in the fourth inning. We considered sending him back out there for a fifth, but just didn't feel like we needed to push the envelope this early. I was happy with the way Josh Gunther threw the ball today. Cam Nelson came in and got some big outs for us and then obviously David Falco there at the end.

We should get one or two pieces of our bullpen back this week which is really exciting. Hopefully, [Will] Gervase, [Crawford] Wade and [Joe] Ariola will be back in the next few games. That will definitely help the situation.

Austin [Hawke] has done a great job for us. He's got some clutch hits and has done a really good job moving the ball around the field, running the bases as well and playing solid defense. Austin's off to a really good start.

Really good to see [Jack Winnay] homer to center field. He stayed on an off-speed pitch and hit two off-speed pitches for home runs which is really encouraging." - head coach Tom Walter

UP NEXT
The Deacs head back to Greensboro with a midweek matchup at North Carolina A&T on Tuesday, Feb. 27. First pitch from Greensboro is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. The game can be seen on FloSports with a paid subscription.

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Team Stats

Austin Hawke

Tate Ballestero

Jack Winnay

Marek Houston

Players Mentioned

Tate Ballestero

Chase Burns

David Falco Jr.

Josh Gunther

Josh Hartle

Austin Hawke

Marek Houston

Seaver King

Michael Massey

Cam Nelson

Jake Reinisch

Adam Tellier

Jack Winnay

Wake Forest Athletics